Praful Bhavsar is an Indian space scientist who has held several major positions in the Indian Space program including the Project Scientist for the first rocket launch into space from Indian soil on 21 November 1963. In 1986, he retired from the position of Director, Space Applications Center of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)and the Director, Indian Remote Sensing Satellite Utilization Program. In 1999 Bhavsar was awarded the Aryabhata Award in recognition of his lifetime achievement in the area of Astronautics by the Astronautical Society of India.